He was a lucky man, in more ways than one. It seldom happens that a cricketer or a person related to cricket receives affection and love from three different generations.
And Richie Benaud was one of the very few to get exactly that.
His voice still rings in my head, I was hardly in my teens when I heard his signatory line: “We pick up the play in the third over. It’s Bruce Reid to Chris Broad …” while watching highlights on Pakistan television. Live telecasts from Australia were rare in those days; so highlights used to satisfy the appetite of crazy fans.
Benaud played 63 Tests for Australia of which he captained the side 28 times. He was the first cricketer to reach 2,000 runs and 200 wickets in Test cricket. He never lost a Test series as captain of Australia, drawing two and winning five.
His performance in his first series as captain was outstanding; he took 31 wickets at an average of 18.83. In that calendar year he furthered his tally of wickets by taking 47 wickets, playing in eight Tests in the Indian Subcontinent against Pakistan and India. In the opening 1959/60 Dhaka Test against Pakistan, he took eight wickets in which he got the prize wicket of Hanif Mohammad by clean bowling him when he was batting on 19.
He retired in 1964 and pursued a career in broadcasting. His intriguing nature led him to television. One evening, he was having dinner with the BBC Entertainment head Tom Sloan when he showed his interest in learning TV because it was about to start in Australia.
He was advised to go through three weeks of training at the BBC, which he did. He went back to Australia and used his experience successfully and became a prominent name in sports broadcasting.
One thing that made him different from the rest was his art of silence; his philosophy was simple: “Put your brain into gear and if you can add to what’s on the screen then do it, otherwise shut up.”
For decades he remained the iconic voice and face of Channel Nine in Australia and BBC in English summers. He portrayed himself as a true gentleman during his broadcasting career, with a soft demeanour, who had numerous friends and no enemies in the fraternity.
Richie Benaud was a legend on the field as well as in the commentary box. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Dry wit was his forte. He was a master at work, describing the game he loved with great precision and economy. He made himself synonymous with two words: “Simply marvellous”. His last commentary assignment in England was the Ashes series in 2005, but he remained a member of the Channel Nine team until the Australian summer of 2013.
One of the most authentic chroniclers of cricket, Gideon Haigh, described him as the most influential cricket personality since the Second World War.
Benaud was very fond of Pakistani cricketers. Hanif Mohammad was one of his contemporaries, but he had a special liking for Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, and Abdul Qadir. He also included Imran Khan in his Greatest XI. To a question that why he preferred Imran over Ian Botham, he said: “Immi? Just had a bit of a feel about his cricket, charisma there as well, and I’m there sitting and watching, that’s what I want.”
His association with Kerry Packer as a consultant unearthed a little rebel within, which did not go well with the traditional BBC quarters. They even thought of removing him from the commentary panel, but his strong aura allowed him to survive through thick and thin.
Just after his death, an interesting story emerged in the media which tells us a lot about Benaud’s love for his fans.
Almost 20 years ago, a 16-year-old budding leg spinner Jonathan Stevenson of Nottingham wrote a letter to Benaud, asking him about the art of leg spin bowling. Not only did the lad get a reply from the great man, but the letter also carried technical notes about spin bowling.
One cannot help but feel that since his death there is something missing in the Australian summer. Though, Benaud left commentary in 2013, but we all knew that he must be closely following the game he loved. Ah! The Aussie cricket season is not the same without him.
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